


Detention: Junior Year

by morganoconner



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-22
Updated: 2012-01-22
Packaged: 2017-10-29 23:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/325336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganoconner/pseuds/morganoconner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In six years of teaching, Gabriel has never had a student quite like Dean Winchester before. Maybe that's why he was so unprepared for it. (A surprisingly innocent student/teacher AU.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Detention: Junior Year

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tiptoe39](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiptoe39/gifts).



Here's the thing.

Dean Winchester was trouble from the moment he first stepped foot into Midway High School, and Gabriel recognized it early on from that stir of rebellion in his own spirit, the one he'd tamed over the years but never broken. He knew from his own experiences as a teenager that what the kid really needed was a friend and he tried – he tried _really hard_ – to make that happen. He convinced Dean to do study sessions, grouped him in class with a new person every week, hinted that he should go to a pep rally or three.

Nothing took.

In fact, the only thing he'd really succeeded in doing was getting Dean to latch onto him of all people, because Dean didn't want _friends_ , didn't want to associate with the backstabbing idiots who were his classmates, but he seemed to actually like Gabriel. Maybe some part of him saw and recognized how alike they really were, or maybe he liked the way Gabriel treated him like an adult, bantering between classes and whipping out the sarcasm and friendly insults with frightening regularity, or maybe he was just that desperate for _someone_ who was actually ready and willing to be around him.

Whatever the reason, Dean somehow came to see his ninth grade history teacher as his best friend, and two and a half years later, Gabriel's only just now starting to see the problem with that. Because earlier today, Dean had asked if it was cool if he swung by after classes, and Gabriel had replied that of course he could, and while he was there he could help grade the freshman class's quizzes. Like always, Dean had smirked and given a sarcastic salute and sauntered off.

And now the school day is over and he's here.

Biting his lip, squirming in his seat like he can't get comfortable, looking broody and annoyed and a little bit like a lost puppy.

This is _not_ the Dean that Gabriel has come to know and care about over the last few years. This is…this is a _teenager_ , prone to all the angst and drama of teenagers everywhere, and Dean _never_ gives off that vibe. Even at fourteen, he'd had a maturity that a good number of the adults in Gabriel's life lacked. Understandable, given that he'd spent most of his life helping to raise and take care of his little brother. It's been tough for him to figure out how to be a kid himself once in a while.

So Gabriel has no idea what to make of what he's seeing right now.

Dean is bent over a small stack of quizzes, and mostly, he looks pretty focused on them, but every once in a while, his eyes dart up, search out Gabriel's face, then instantly go hooded, an embarrassed flush creeping into his cheeks when he finds Gabriel staring back with a raised eyebrow.

Finally, Gabriel can't take it anymore. He sighs noisily, stands up, and goes to plant himself pointedly in front of Dean's desk. Crossing his arms, he says, "All right, Winchester. Out with it."

Dean looks up at him with wide green eyes, looking for all the world like a spooked horse. "Out with what?" he says, and he's trying to play the cocky, arrogant sonuvabitch he always does, but it's coming across more like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"You came here for a reason that _wasn't_ letting me use you for slave labor, right?" Gabriel asks, drawing out the last word, letting it hang in the air between them. Something is eating at his student, and Gabriel wants to help, but he can't if Dean won't talk to him.

Dean stews for a little longer, stubbornly grading the rest of the quiz in front of him while he pointedly avoids Gabriel's gaze, until finally he can't avoid it anymore and he sets his pen down, rubbing a hand over his face like he can rub away whatever is on his mind.

Gabriel tries very hard to be patient and doesn't allow himself to fidget. He does, however, eventually place his hands on Dean's desk, bending down until he finally catches Dean's eyes and saying, "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

Dean nods slowly like he's running this through his head, analyzing it for cracks or weaknesses. But he seems to remember that he does, in fact, trust Gabriel, both as a friend and as a teacher, and maybe even a little bit as a mentor, because his face takes on that more familiar steely resolve and he finally says, "I think I might be gay."

Oh, _hell_. Gabriel thought he was prepared for just about anything, but not this. Definitely not this. He straightens up too fast, catching Dean's wry look as he does. "Uh. Are you…" He has to consciously fight not to loosen his tie, knowing it will give Dean the wrong idea more than he already has. "Well, I mean, what makes you think so, exactly?"

Dean snorts, leaning back into a half-sprawl half-slouch that shouldn't even be possible in those hard plastic chairs and crossing his arms. "I'm almost seventeen, c'mon. After a while, certain things are pretty obvious." His eyes are dark and hooded and wary when they seek out Gabriel's again.

Gabriel releases a slow breath, dragging one of the other chairs out so he can sit down but still be facing Dean. He can guess at what's going through the kid's head right now. He's been through meetings with both Dean's parents, after all, and he's got them pretty well sized up, he thinks.

Dean and Sam live with their mother, Mary, who's one of the most genuinely _nice_ people Gabriel's ever met. She's busy a lot, working two jobs to support them, but Dean's eyes are always soft when he talks about her and she's one of those moms who would, without fail, accept her children no matter what, even if they were the scum of the earth…and Sam and Dean are decidedly not that.

But they go to stay with their father every other weekend and for vacations, and John Winchester is an ex-military asshole who isn't going to take well to having a queer son if he finds out. Gabriel only has suspicions about how hard he actually is on his kids (there's no physical abuse, he's almost positive, because God knows he's searched high and low for the signs), but he knows that Mary petitioned for full custody for a reason, and was denied only because John is a _decorated_ ex-military asshole, which carries some weight with a lot of judges.

And all of that is before Dean gets it into his head to start worrying about how his new lifestyle outlook will affect his little brother.

Quite frankly, it's a miracle he's brought this up to Gabriel at all.

So despite the fact that Gabriel is not in any way qualified to deal with something like this, he's going to have to figure out a way. There's no one else Dean is going to trust.

That being said… "I, er. Don't suppose you thought about talking to the school counselor?" he asks, as gently as possible, feeling like he's tiptoeing over a landmine. Dean gives him another dark look and Gabriel nods. "Yeah, okay, didn't think so. Um."

"Look, just. Don't worry about it," Dean mutters. "It's not a big deal or anything, just…wanted to say it out loud."

"No, I get it," Gabriel says, because he _does_. God knows he does. "And Dean, I'm really glad you thought you could trust me with that. I get that it's a big deal."

Dean shrugs, staring hard at his desk. Gabriel sort of fears that it's going to burst into flames any second now.

"For what it's worth, it's cool, too," Gabriel says, feeling out the words as he says them, wondering if there's some sort of invisible line he should be watching out for. He's thirty years old, he's been teaching for six of those years, and he has no baseline to figure out what's the right or wrong thing to say here. "I mean, I'm not gonna be wigged out or anything, you know?"

"Not like you're really allowed to be," Dean snorts. "Not by official guidelines. Gotta treat all the students equally, gotta be fair and unprejudiced, I'm sure there's all sorts of crap in your contract or whatever."

"Yeah, because I clearly don't favor any students at all." Gabriel rolls his eyes. This, at least, he's come to terms with. He cares about Dean more than he does his other students, and the only reason it hasn't bitten him in the ass is because he hasn't had Dean in a class since the kid was a freshman. "But it's more than that, and I'm guessing you probably already know that."

Dean flushes. "I don't –"

"Maybe no one's confirmed your big bad history teacher's orientation officially, but you've suspected, haven't you?" Gabriel fixes Dean with a look.

"Maybe a little," Dean mumbles, still talking more to the desk than to Gabriel.

Gabriel sighs. "This is going to get awkward, isn't it?" He points a stern finger. "I will _not_ talk to you about the joys of gay sex, you understand me? And you can forget me being your errand boy for supplies, either."

This time, the sound Dean makes is far closer to laughter, though he tries to cover it up with a loud cough.

The relief is palpable when, just like that, the tension between them is broken. "But," Gabriel adds, more seriously. "If you ever want to talk about stuff, I am here." Because who else does the kid have? And anyway, if he can help Dean have an easier time of it than he himself ever did, it's worth it.

Dean nods, looks like he's about to say something when the door opens and his kid brother stumbles in, looking flustered.

"Sorry I'm late!" Sam says, adjusting his backpack distractedly. "Had to finish a project. Hi, Mr. G!" He sketches a wave at Gabriel and then turns back to bounce impatiently at Dean. "Can we go? I have so much homework, and it's Dad's weekend, so I'm not gonna –" He cuts himself off abruptly, sliding his gaze again to Gabriel, who doesn't say a word.

"Yeah Sammy, we can go," Dean says, standing and ruffling his brother's hair.

Just before he walks out the classroom door, he looks back and gives Gabriel a very small, awkward smile. "Thanks, Mr. Laufison."

~

Dean comes to school on Monday looking exhausted, but that's a typical trend after weekends he's been with his father. Gabriel passes him in the hallway and raises an eyebrow, Dean rolls his eyes and nods, and Gabriel knows he's okay. He doesn't even stop to question this wordless communication thing they somehow perfected when his back was turned.

He doesn't actually talk to Dean again until Thursday at lunch, when Dean storms into his classroom, interrupting Gabriel scarfing down leftover Chinese, and throws his backpack on his desk with a sort of drama that Mr. Singer, who teaches theater, would be damn proud of.

Gabriel just rolls his eyes and gives Dean a pointed look.

"Three girls," Dean says, apropos of nothing.

"Yes…?" Gabriel prompts, looking longingly at his half-finished Lo Mein.

"Fucking _junior prom_ ," Dean growls, and Gabriel forgets to correct his language abuse for once.

"You asked three girls to –"

" _No_ , you idiot!" Dean waves his hands, and he's _clearly_ forgotten that Gabriel is, in fact, his teacher and should thus be shown some respect. If Gabriel weren't so amused right now, he'd probably be annoyed. "Three girls asked _me_. I mean, what the hell? I decide I'm gay and suddenly every girl in the school wants me?"

Gabriel tries to hide his laughter, he really does. He stuffs Lo Mein in his mouth and hides his face behind a hasty napkin, but judging by Dean's glower, he's not fooled in the least. "Okay," Gabriel says, taking a few deep breaths and trying not to fall apart again at the look on his poor student's face. "For one thing, that would only make a difference if you were, you know, _out_. And believe me, if you were, I'd have heard about it." News travels fast in any high school and about fifty times faster in a small private school like this one. "So no, that's not it. I mean, Dean, when was the last time you looked in a mirror?"

Dean blinks at him owlishly. "Huh?"

"Oh, for the love of…. Okay, this may have slipped your notice, but you are, in fact, a –" _Do not use the words scorchingly hot, do not even_ think _the words scorchingly hot_ "– moderately attractive member of the student body. Eventually, others were going to start to notice."

More blinking, and then Dean's eyebrow goes up and he smirks. "Are you even allowed to notice stuff like that?"

"Oh, please, it's practically a requirement, haven't you ever heard about Ms. Mosely and Mr. Singer's annual betting pool about which students will –" He coughs. "Yes, anyway, the teachers here are intelligent, appropriate professionals, but we're not blind."

It's not like Gabriel is _un_ aware that some of the students go out of their way to look like eye-cand; some of the more daring ones have even flirted with the teachers here before, usually looking for a good grade or an ego boost if they can get a blush in return. It makes for good office gossip all around, but in general, Gabriel's just never particularly cared before. The thought alone makes him shudder. Most of the students here are whiny little vultures, like teenagers everywhere.

And if he ever _has_ noticed Dean's particular brand of good looks before, he's never allowed himself to actually dwell on them. He cares about the kid too much to let inappropriate thoughts like that fuck up one of Dean's few good relationships with anyone outside his mom and brother.

"So anyway," he says, cutting those thoughts off at the pass and tossing a smirk Dean's way. "Are you going to go?"

"What, with one of _them?_ " Dean asks. To his credit, it only takes him a few seconds to stop gaping at Gabriel like a fish. "Were you not here on Friday, when I was pouring my friggin' heart out like a girl about how I was _gay?_ "

"I was here," Gabriel says, the smirk sliding off his face as he grows serious. "And don't get me wrong, hey, I'm all for you not lying to some poor girl and inevitably breaking her heart. I just thought you'd jump at the chance to…"

"To pretend I was normal?" Dean asks darkly.

"To hide the truth from your dad." Gabriel winces internally as he says it, because it's one topic of conversation that doesn't come up very often. The few times it has, the few times Dean's let something slip when he doesn't mean to, it hasn't ended well.

Sure enough, Dean's eyes go stone cold, every wall he has sliding up into place. "Don't," he growls.

"All right, I'm sorry," Gabriel says sincerely. He backtracks. "All I'm saying is, I know you don't want to come out, and that's okay. There's no rule saying you have to. If there's a timeline on this crap, I certainly never learned it. And if going to prom would make things a little easier on you, just until you're ready, well."

Dean sighs. "I don't want to lie, y'know? I don't want anybody to _care_. What the hell business is it of theirs anyway?"

Gabriel shrugs lightly. "So then be ambiguous." When Dean only looks confused, he elaborates. "I know you try to hide it, but you can actually be a pretty charming guy when you want to be, Dean. And you are, without doubt, a massive flirt when you stand still long enough for people to talk to you. I doubt you even realize you're doing it half the time."

Dean flushes.

"So, just be yourself, see how it goes. Let the girls down gently, no one says you have to tell them why. Go to prom by yourself if you want, or don't go at all, or go with a caravan of drunken idiot students you barely know the names of, but don't feel like you have to justify any decision you make to anyone." The bell rings just as Gabriel's finishing, and he glances at the clock. "You better get going, or you're going to be late to, what, Pre-Calc?"

"Yeah." Dean sighs and grabs up his backpack. "Seeya," he says to Gabriel, barely even pausing to look at him.

Gabriel watches the classroom door close behind him as he leaves.

~

He spends a lot of the next two weeks thinking far more about Dean Winchester than he has any right to. Wishing there was some easy fix for the kid, wishing he could help him more than just providing a friendly, non-judgmental ear.

He considers the possibility of finding a way to introduce Dean to Castiel, because God knows Cas is way more qualified to help him than Gabriel is. Cas has a _degree_ in helping kids with issues, but therein lies the problem. The second Dean hears the word "psychologist" or "counselor", he's going to run screaming, no matter how much he trusts Gabriel.

There's no real reason he can't talk to Cas anyway and maybe get some advice, except that quite frankly, Gabriel's more than a little afraid of Cas turning the psychobabble on _him_ , and between not wanting to re-open old wounds from his own past and not wanting to find a way around Cas asking why he cares so much…

No, he's on his own.

So he thinks about Dean between classes, wondering how he's handling everything, and he keeps an eye on him when the kid stops by, and he does his best to make sure he's doing okay. Then he drags himself home and just _keeps_ thinking about him, and the days keep dragging by, one after another after another.

~

Two days before the junior prom, Gabriel catches Dean behind the bleachers with Nick Munroe, a sophomore, and it's like all the world's worst high school clichés come to life before his eyes. Nick is wrapped around Dean, practically devouring him, with his hand stuffed down Dean's pants like he's digging for gold, and it just looks downright ridiculous.

Maybe if Dean looked like he was having a good time, Gabriel would leave him to it and pretend he saw nothing, but as it stands, he can't let this travesty go on. It definitely has nothing to do with the way the sight just makes something _snap_ inside him. Nothing to do with the way his blood boils and his face flushes and his hands clench and he wishes, for a split second, before he can stop himself….

Nothing to do with any of that. Just getting his favorite student out of trouble.

He clears his throat and Dean springs back from Nick like he's been burned. His eyes are wide when they find Gabriel's, a mix of fear and shame and embarrassment and all kinds of other things Gabriel isn't good enough to read in their depths. Nick, on the other hand, just blinks at him a few times and then moans.

"Shit. _Shit_ , Mr. Laufison, please don't call my parents?" he says. Practically whines.

Gabriel sneers at him as he crosses his arms, can't seem to help himself. "Get out of here, Munroe. Detention tonight with Mr. Turner, and if I were you, I wouldn't be even a second late. You manage to survive that, I'll think about being kind."

Nick scurries away, muttering to himself as he goes, and then it's just Dean and Gabriel.

Dean flushes under Gabriel's scrutiny, fumbles with the button on his jeans and then just stands there looking awkward as hell until Gabriel rolls his eyes. "Well," he says. "Not quite what I had in mind when I told you to be ambiguous." He wonders if there's any way he can stop this from being all over the school by tomorrow, hopes that it was just an experiment for Munroe and that he's as embarrassed about the whole thing as Dean looks.

"I just…" Dean crosses his arms uncomfortably. "I just wanted to stop…and I figured if I knew what it was…fuck. I don't even know." He raises his eyes miserably to Gabriel's. "I screwed up, I get it. I'm sorry."

Gabriel stares at him for a long moment, then nods for Dean to follow him. "C'mon, let's head back inside and I'll see if I can help you with damage control, huh?"

There's untold relief sliding into Dean's eyes now, and whatever part of Gabriel was still seething with all those things he had no right to be feeling settles back into calm.

He should maybe start admitting to himself that he's in a little bit of trouble here.

~

'Damage control' is easy enough. Munroe doesn't look like he'll be saying a word anytime soon. If Gabriel didn't scare him stupid, you can bet your ass Rufus Turner did. Meanest teacher in the school, according to most the students, and by the end of the day, Gabriel sees the kid exiting Rufus' classroom looking white as a sheet. He makes a note to send Rufus a bottle of Johnny Walker's for Christmas.

Dean hangs around Gabriel's classroom just long enough to berate himself for being such an idiot, apologize to Gabriel three separate times for being forced to deal with the mess, and then to trudge off with his brother when Sam finally shows up, still looking nine kinds of dejected.

Gabriel has no idea what the hell he's supposed to do, but, well, that's nothing new when it comes to Dean Winchester. And damn the kid twice over for getting under his skin like this. He can't even remember when everything got so damn twisted up inside him. Can't pinpoint the exact moment it started going wrong.

All he can do, as far as he can tell, is keep it together for the next week and a half. Then it'll be summer, and maybe if he's really lucky, things will go back to some semblance of normal. Three months without Dean in his space every day, staring at him with those impenetrable jade eyes and talking to Gabriel like he's the best thing that ever happened to him.

Ten more days and he can get his life back together, and then Dean will be a senior. Surely when that happens, he'll realize there are far better things in life than being BFFs with your smarmy history teacher. Greener pastures and all that.

One can only hope.

Gabriel firmly ignores the fact that he's not really hoping for anything of the sort.

~

Working with kids seems to run in Gabriel's blood, what with his children's psychologist brother, his older cousin Uriel who works as a juvenile justice attorney, and both he and his younger cousin Anna working in the high school.

He and Anna, who was only hired on last year as the Art teacher, began a tradition when she was first hired of getting drinks together every other Monday night so that they can relax and vent about the antics of their various students.

Gabriel is down to four days on his ten-day countdown to the end of the year, and never before has he looked _less_ forward to drinks with Anna. Because Anna, while being one of the most sincerely kind teachers in the whole school, is a bit of a gossip. And by _a bit_ , Gabriel of course means she's the gossip queen of Midway High.

"So," she says, taking a sip of her cocktail and flipping her auburn hair over her shoulder. "Word on the grapevine is, your little pet project had himself a good time at junior prom." Her eyes sparkle as she grins at Gabriel.

He scowls back at her, downs the rest of his drink in a single shot. "Okay, A," he says tightly, "don't call him that. And B, I don't wanna know." He really, _really_ doesn't want to know. Anything. At all.

"Oh?" she says, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and taking another sip. She looks intrigued. "Usually you're first in line to hear all about any dirt I have on Dean Winchester. You're the one who calls it, what was it, cousin? Oh, right. _Looking out for the kid._ "

Gabriel grinds his teeth and doesn't answer. Instead, he signals to the bartender for another.

"So then, you _don't_ want to hear about how he came alone and still managed to charm most of the junior class into dancing with him at one point or another?" Anna is the very picture of innocence as she says it, sitting demurely, eyes on the table, sipping her drink.

Gabriel would very much like to strangle her, because how is he supposed to resist now? "Junior _class?_ " he asks, hating himself even as the words pass his lips. "Not just the ladies?"

"Oh no!" she gasps, mock-astonished. "No, indeed, I believe he danced with Patrick O'Shea _twice_ , in fact." She eyes him for a long moment. "Hmm, and you somehow seem not very surprised by any of this."

"As it happens –" he starts, only to be cut off when she gasps for real this time.

"Oh, he came out to you, didn't he?" She leans forward, eyes intent. "He _did_ , don't even try to deny it!"

" _Anna!_ " he growls, looking around even though he knows none of the other staff members frequent this place. "Look, he… Yes, he did, okay? But last I knew, he wasn't planning on making that common knowledge, _especially_ among his teachers."

She nods, serious now. "I understand, Gabriel, don't worry. I won't say a word, I promise." She taps a finger on her glass, looking thoughtful. "I'm surprised he took the chance, then. I mean, he danced with plenty of people, and yes, mostly the girls, but he wasn't picky. He danced with anyone who asked, and there was more than one young man in the mix as well."

"I think it's his way of trying to be _ambiguous_ ," Gabriel says, trying not to smile. He's not entirely surprised by Dean's daring. It's not an outright _fuck you_ to his hardass father, but it's definitely a statement of some kind. Maybe he's trying to stand up for himself in a way that can't actually be taken as outright rebellion. It's a little sneakier than Gabriel might have given him credit for, but then, Dean does spend a lot of time with Gabriel. Chances are he's learned _something_ in all that time.

"Hmm, well, he certainly intrigued a lot of people that night, let me tell you." Anna grins. "He left alone, but he left a good number of his peers with hearts in their eyes. It was quite the show to watch."

"I'm sure it was," Gabriel murmurs, staring hard into his drink.

~

"Heard you made quite the splash at prom," Gabriel says when Dean strolls into his classroom two days later. He props his elbows on his desk and his chin in his hands and grins at his student.

Dean blushes as he drops into his usual chair, covering his face with his hands as he groans. "Oh, God, it made the teacher rounds?"

"Yep." Gabriel waggles his eyebrows. "So c'mon, spill! I want all the deets."

"Man, who even talks like that anymore?" Dean asks, laughing in spite of himself. He leans back, shrugging self-consciously. "I dunno, I just. Rolled with it. Spur of the moment thing, I wasn't even gonna go, not after…" He coughs, and Gabriel's mind flashes on Munroe, who has been rather conspicuously absent from his class lately. "But it was there, and I had nothing better to do, and Sammy's a little bitch who can talk me into anything, so. I went. No big."

"No, it's very cool that you went," Gabriel says. "I'm almost, dare I say it, proud of you, Winchester. That took guts."

Dean snorts. "Hardly. It's not like I came out or anything."

"On the contrary. For someone who keeps to the fringe as much as you do, putting yourself in that situation took a _lot_ of guts," Gabriel tells him. "Added to that, you said loud and clear that you're not going to judge people based on something as stupid as sexual orientation, and that's a huge step. Whether you come out or not, that says something. And from what I hear, it sounds like the rest of your classmates were very approving."

Dean's face is beet red now and it makes Gabriel grin to see it. He really is proud of the kid, is the thing. Dean's come a long way in three years and a lot of that was just in the past couple months alone. It's pretty huge, and Gabriel's happy he was able to have however small a part in it.

"So, listen," Gabriel says, switching tacks. "I've got a detention to supervise tomorrow – and lemme tell you, any kid stupid enough to earn a detention this late in the school year deserves what's coming to him – but am I going to see you at all before classes let out for the summer?"

Dean quirks a smile. "I was actually gonna ask if I could swing by after classes let out on Friday. You'll still be here?"

Gabriel waves a hand. "I'll have plenty of last-minute paperwork to keep me entertained for a couple of hours. You know you're always welcome. Sam going to meet you here like usual?"

"Nah, he's in school for another week, so he's got a full day that day. I'll be picking him up at his school from here on out till he's done for the summer."

"Gotcha," Gabriel says with a nod. "Well then, feel free to swing by for however long you want. I'll be here." He doesn't know what to make of the way Dean's face reddens again, but at least the kid is smiling, so it can't be anything too bad.

"Awesome," Dean says, standing and grabbing his backpack. "I'll catch you later, then." He stumbles as he backs away from his desk, blushes harder as he rights himself, and then hurries from the room.

"Uh huh…" Gabriel says, both eyebrows shooting up at the unexpected display of clumsiness. "Check you later."

Huh. He wonders just what the heck was up with _that_.

~

The next two days pass in a blur. There's a whirlwind of activity as final projects are handed back, grades are distributed, and students are forced to endure the final hours of class where very little actually happens.

Gabriel plays History Jeopardy with his classes, like he always does during the last two days of school. He uses the best candy as prizes, laughs as the kids squabble over trades, and generally enjoys himself. He loves teaching and he loves knowing that his kids enjoy his classes. He's wanted to be a teacher since he was a kid himself and there's nothing better than the last two days to show him that his kids have really gotten it, that he's done a good job.

In the chaos of everything winding down, it should be easy to briefly forget about Dean and all the drama that goes along with thinking of him, but it's not. Dean is always still right there, burning brightly in the dark corners of Gabriel's mind even when all of his focus should be on more important things, like helping Lisa earn the last two grade points she needs to pass the class or making sure Cassie's final project gets the extra credit it deserves. Keeping Ash in line for just long enough that he doesn't wind up in summer school because he missed too many classes. These are the things Gabriel _should_ be thinking about.

By the time that final bell rings every year, Gabriel is usually the first to kick back at his desk and bask in the silence of the hallways, the lack of papers that need grading. But this year, he's laser-focused on the doorway, waiting for that final visit from a student that isn’t even one of his to worry about.

"Hey," Dean says, when he finally does walk through the door. He's glancing behind him like he's double-checking that he's actually the only student dumb enough to still be here, and it makes Gabriel chuckle a little.

"Hey yourself," he says, leaning back at his desk with a calm he doesn't really feel. His skin feels too tight and he's on edge in a way he almost never was before the last few months happened. He just wishes he knew if it was because Dean is here now, or because Dean won't be here for the next three months.

Gabriel has no clue which thought is worse right at the moment.

"You know, I really am honored that you actually wanted to stay late on your last day just to say goodbye to little old me," he says, trying for a grin.

Dean smiles back, but there's nothing easy about the way it stretches his mouth. In fact, he looks a little constipated, standing there shifting his weight like he has something to say and doesn't really want to. Something clenches like a vise around Gabriel's chest.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" he asks, tilting his head, wondering if he should stand up.

"Yeah!" Dean says, too loud. "Yeah, just…" He blows out a breath, checks the window of the door again, and makes his way a couple steps closer to Gabriel's desk. "Um. I wanted to. You remember the other week, when you caught me with Nick and I was busy fumbling for an excuse about why it happened?"

Gabriel blinks and then his eyebrow goes up. "Hard to forget," he says, and he tries really hard to make it come out in an even voice, not muttering the way he wants to.

"Right," Dean says, looking down at the floor as his lips twist wryly. "The thing is, all I wanted was to forget for two damn seconds that I actually had it pretty bad for someone else. I thought, maybe if I got it on with some other guy, maybe whatever the fuck I was feeling would just go away. Like it was just hormones or something, y'know?"

"Dean…"

"But it didn't work." Dean shakes his head and looks back up to meet Gabriel's gaze head-on. Gabriel suddenly feels like he's drowning beneath the weight of those eyes. "It didn't work, and I knew it wouldn't, was the stupidest part. I _knew_ it, but…" Three more steps, and now he's coming around Gabriel's desk, and why is Gabriel just _sitting here?_

"Dean, what…?" He can barely choke the words out, but it doesn't matter because then Dean is bending down. He's bending down and cupping Gabriel's cheek and pressing his mouth to his, swallowing down any other words Gabriel might've tried to say like it's _just that easy_ , and Gabriel can't move, can't even breathe around how _wrongwrongwrongohmygodsoRIGHT_ it all is.

Dean is pulling away before Gabriel has a chance to _think_ , and he doesn't even know if he was kissing back or not, can't find two brain cells left to rub together and try to make any sense of this. Dean's smile quirks out at him, too goddamn beautiful, and all Gabriel can think is his name, over and over and over again.

"So, there's that," Dean says, stepping back. He drops something on the desk, something it takes Gabriel a depressing amount of time to realize is a goddamn apple, a candy-coated apple of all the godforsaken things, and then he grins again. "I'll see you next year, Mr. Laufison."

"You…but…" But Dean is already gone, and there's nothing for Gabriel to say and no one to say it to.

The bell rings, final bus call, and Gabriel drops his head to his desk and laughs because there's nothing else to do.


End file.
